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S. E. KOCHENDARFER.

ROTARY ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED. APR. 25.19: 1.

1,302,930. Patented May 6,1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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IN I/E/V TOR v WM ATTORNEYS S. E. KOCHENDARFER. ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLlClA TlON HLED APR. 25, 1917.

' Patented May 6, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES I I z W v ATTORNE Y8 S. E. KOCHENDARFER.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.25. 1911.

Patented May 6, 1919.

3 'SHEETS-SHEET 3 w m TOR S/fi/US f /70c///1/J/9/7/z7 sy 6. A rromvm S Mm w W SIRIUS E. KOGHENDARFER, or wAsnI eroN, PENNSYLVANIA.

ROTARY ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 6, 1919.

Application filed April 25, 1917; seri l No. 164,436.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIRIUS E. KooHnN- DARFER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Washington, in the county of Washington andState of Pennsylvania, have made certain new and useful Improvements inRotary lilngines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in rotary engines, and itconsists'in the oombinations, constructions and arrangementshereindescribed and claimed.

An object of my invention is to provide a rotary engine having no deadcenter, thus permitting the engine to start up and run,

no matter .where the. oscillatory pistons happen to be with respect tothe steam chamber.

mally held in operative position by means of the springs, but whichare"forced"inwardly by a long cam surface having a grad ual slope on theengine casing, thus obviating sudden impact and reducing to a greatextent the noise which might otherwise be present. 1 I

A further object of" my invention is to provide novel means forrendering the de* vice steam tight, that is to say, for preventing thepassage of steam between the'edges of the oscillatory piston and thewalls of the steam chamber, when the pistons are in operative position.

A further object of my invention is to provide a valve mechanism bymeans of which steam may be out off at any given instant during themovement of the rotor, or by which a continuous supply of live steam maybe admitted to the engine.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification,and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed outin the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accom panying drawings forming partof this application, in which Figure 1 is a central vertical sectionthrough the device.

Fig. 2 is a section along the line 2-2 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4: is an enlarged section through a portion of the valve operatingmechanism.

Fig. 5 is a section alongqtheline 55 of Fig.1.

Fig.6 is a-perspective view of one of the oscillatory pistons.

In carrying out invention I provide a' base 1 which contains a valvechamber 2 having a valve 3. The latter'ispreferably of the rotary type,and controls the steam inlet passage 4. The basal supports the enginecasing 5. The latteris in. the form of a cylinder, and is provided witha removable plate 6 by means of which access may be had to' theinterior. At another portion of the casing is secured an exhaust chamber7 which communicates with an exhaust pipe 8. On the inside-of the casing5 between the exhaust chamber 7 and the intake port 4 I e is disposed aoasting9, which is made hol- A further object of my inventionis toprovide a rotary engine having spring pressed oscillatory pistons whichare norlow for the sake of lightness and economy in material. The innersurface of this casting9 iscurved on a circular arc, as shown at 9".That portion of the casting 9 near the exhaust chamber? is curved toform a camsurface 10.

The rotor is shown at 11. It consists of a cylinder having cut-awayportions 12 to lighten the cylinder and being provided with recesses 13.The cylinder is mounted on the squared portion 14 of the shaft 14.Thecylinder is of such a diameter as to closely contact with the curvedsurfaces 9 of the casting 9. This leaves a steam or expansion "chamber15 on the opposite side of the shaft.

The oscillatory pistons are like that shown in Fig. 6. In this figure itwill be observed that the piston has a central portion 16, having asleeve 16 at one end and an abutment blade 16 at the other, both thesleeve and the blade being wider than the body portion 16.

Recesses 16 are provided for the insertion of packing 16". At 17 I haveshown pivot pins which pass through the sleeve 16. The latter aredisposed in cylindrical recesses in the rotor 11, to oscillate aboutthev pins 17. slots 11 are provided in the periphery of the rotor forreceivingthe body portion 16 of each of the pistons, while the recesses13 receive the blades 16.

Each sleeve 16 has an arm 16 arranged to enter a recess 11 in the rotor.Springs 18 are disposed in bores 19 in the rotor, the ends of the boresbeing closed by screw plugs 20. The springs 18 bear at one end of'the 11thus tending to force the pistons outwardly against the wall of thecasing 5. It will be observed that the blades 16 'of the pistons arecurved on an arc, the center of which is the axis of the pivot pin 17,and that the recess 13 has a contact wall which is curved on a similararc.

In Fig. 2 I have shown .a section through a portion of the casting 9 andthe rotor 11. It willbe observed that there'is a packing member 21,which is held by springs 22 against the surface of the rotor. Thepacking members 16 are also designed to be kept in close contact withthe abutting surfaces by means of springs, not shown, (but preciselylike those shown in Fig. 2, in connection with the packing 21) when thepistons are in operative position.

In order to "time the valve .3 I provide a valve operating mechanismshown in Figs. 1, 3 and 4t. This consists of acam wheel '23, which has-0penings24. The wheel is mounted on the shaft '14; to turn with thelatter. The valve stem 3 has an :arm 25, which is pivotally connectedwith a rod 26, see Fig. 2. The latter enters .a cylinder .27 having aspring 28, which surrounds the rod, and which is provided with anadjusting nut 29 on the threaded portion 26 of the :rod 26. A screw plug31 closes the end of the cylinder 27. A handle 32 is pivoted at 33, andis provided with :a spring actuated locking dog 34 arranged to engagethe notches of a locking segment 35. The handle has an extension 36having an arm 37 arranged .to engage the projecting end '26 of stheshaft 26, so as to force the latter inwardly against the tension of thespring 28, when desired.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, theoperation thereof may be readily understood.

Steam is admitted into the inlet pipe 38 by means of the valve 39 or byany other suitable means, and passes into the valve casing 2 through theinlet 3, and into the recess 13, see Fig. 5, where it exerts pressure onthe piston blade. The latter being carried by the rotor this pressure istransmitted to the rotor, which turns, thus turning the shaft 14:. Thesteam continues to force the piston around until it :passes the exhaustchamber 7 when the steam is allowed to escape. Under normal conditionsthe cut off of thesteam should take place at about the dotted'linemarked X in Fig. 5, and this may be regulated by means of the valvemechanism just described. As long as the arm 25 is on the outside of thecam wheel 23, the valve is open, but when under the infiuence of thespring 28, the arm .drops into the opening at in the cam wheel, then thesteam iscut off. Assoon as the piston .engages the cam surfacelO, seeFig. 5, it is forced inwardly, into the recess 13 and 11 and at the sametime the spring 18 is compressed. Contact with the surface 9 of thecasting 9 keeps the piston in its inner position, "until it clearstheend of the casting which is just adjacent to the inlet port 4L.Having cleared this casting, the piston under the influence of thespring 18 immediately springs outwardly. It will be observed that thereis an inclined portion l0 at the end of the casting 9, down which theend of the piston will slide, but this inclined portion is more abruptthan the inclined portion 10 at the opposite end of the casting 9, whichcloses the piston. The provision of the packing members 16 insures theclose contact of the piston with the wall of the easing, and also withthe curved portion of the rotor against which the piston bears. It isnot possible for the steam to escape past the piston when the latter isin itsoperative .position. It will be noted that the recesses 11 tend toform an air cushion for the pistons 16, thus reducing the noise andvibration.

I desire to call particular attention to the fact that steam is alwaysacting ,on one of the pistons, so that the engine has no dead center,for it will be observed that in Fig. 5 the upper piston has not yetreached the exhaust port, while the lower piston is in position to beacted on by the steam pressure. Prior to the springing into position ofthe lower piston, the upper piston was being pushed forward by theexpansion of the steam, if the steam had been previously out olf, or bythe live steam if the steam had not 100 been cut oil, so that before onepiston stops acting, the other piston is brought intov play. i Theelimination of the dead center of the engine constitutes a valuablefeature of the invention.

Another point where an advance is made in the art-is the fact that boththe contacting surfaces of the pistons and the cam surface 10 are curvedon arcs which provide a gradual and not an abrupt inclination to the 110wall of the casing 5. The result is that the closing of th pistons ortheir movement into the recesses of the rotor is comparatively gradual,thus doin away with the power absorbing impact w ich is often found inro- 115 tary engines, and furthermore rendering the engine much lessnoisy.

VVhenit :is desired to drive the engine continuously with live steam,that is to say, not to cut off the steam at any point during rota- 120tion, it is only necessary to move the handle 32 into such position thatthe .arm 37 will engage the en'd26' of the arm-26, thus holding the rodagainst the tension of the spring 28, so that the arm'25 will remain in125 its outer position, thus keeping the vailve 3 open. The entrance ofthe steam may be controlled by any suitable means, suchas the valve 39,so that live steam may be continuous'ly admitted to .the engine. Theretrac- 130 tion of the handle 32 will bring the out off mechanism againinto play when desired.

I claim i 1. In a rotary engine, a rotor provided with recesses in itsperiphery, a plurality of L-shaped oscillatory pistons pivotally carriedby said rotor and adapted to be moved into said recesses, each of saidpistons being cushioned by steam during such movement into the recess,an extension carried by each of said pistons and disposed in one of saidrecesses, a spring disposed in another recess and arranged to bear onsaid extension for normally forcing the piston outwardly, and aremovable screw plug arranged to be engaged by the opposite end of thespring.

2. In a rotary engine, a cylindrical casing, a rotor disposed withinsaid cylindrical casing and having recesses in its periphery, aplurality of L-shaped oscillatory pistons pivotally carried by saidrotor and adapted to be moved into said recesses, each of said PIS",

tons having packing on one side thereof arranged to continuously engagea portion of the wall of the rotor during its movement into and out ofsaid recess, and being provided on the opposite side with packingarranged to engage the inner wall of the casing when the piston is inits outer position.

3. In a rotary engine, a casing, a rotor disposed within said casing andhaving recesses, a plurality of L-sha'ped oscillatory pistons pivotallycarried by said rotor and adapted to move into said recesses, each ofsaid pistons being pivoted at the extreme end of the longer arm of theL, the shorter said extension for normally forcing the piston outwardlyin contact with the inner wall of the casing.

4. In a rotary engine, a casing having inlet and exhaust ports, a rotordisposed with in the casing, a plurality of oscillatory spring pressedpistons carried by said rotor,

means foradmitting steam into operative relation with said pistons andfor cutting of]? the steam from the pistons at a predetermined point,said means comprising a rotary valve, a cam wheel on the main shaft, anarm secured to the valve stem and arranged to be engaged by the camwheel, a spring for normally holding said arm to said cam wheel, andmeans for throwing the spring out of commission, and for maintainingthevalve in its open position, said last-named means comprising a cylinder,a rod pivotally connected to said arm and arranged to extend throughsaid cylinder and spring within thecylinder for exerting tension on therod and means for holding the rod rigidly when the arm is in its outerposition and the valve is in its open position.

SIRIUS E. KO GHENDARFER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

